Home › Forums › MGTOW Central › Is the socialist insecurity number the mark of the beats?
This topic contains 42 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by 
FrankOne 3 years, 12 months ago.
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Harpomason: Who will assume risks to loan money when the interest rate is zero? Remember, Biblical usury means charging ANY interest, not excessive interest, the modern interpretation. In Islam, there is ‘Islamic Banking’, a creative workaround. But ultimately, the lender is taking on risk, and won’t lend without reward. The growth of Protestantism and its more liberal position on interest, is what helped create the economic growth we enjoy today.
If you don’t want to pay interest, don’t take out a loan.
Survivor writes: Frank, how would decreasing the size and scope of government decrease banker mischief on wallstreet. or do you even acknowledge banker mischief?
Survivor: Of course I acknowledge ‘banker mischief’, but to me, it’s more CENTRAL banker mischief; that is, the fiat currency system with baked-in inflation. Get rid of the central bank (Fed), and banks will have to stand on their balance sheets, and will be careful who they lend to. Depositors won’t have federally protected insurance and will be equally careful. Any banks that ARE insured, will be PRIVATELY insured, and you better believe insurers will look carefully at the risks of loans and the balance sheet… So that is one alternative vision.
When the government insured mortgages and encouraged subprime lending, sure, private banks joined the bandwagon. But ask yourself the question, would this same mortgage crisis, have arisen without Fannie, Freddie, and the Fed? Or if so, would the magnitude have been the same? Remember, no FSLIC insurance, either. And to top it off, you could make it so banks were not permitted to be LIMITED liability corporations… Think of the impact that would have on recklessness…
Survivor writes: And private jobs come from compelling people by force to pay for things at supermarkets….
I think we’ve had this discussion before. You’re not compelled to pay for things at supermarkets. 100 miles away from me is a large community of Amish; they buy very little at these English supermarkets.
So since you see competition as a key value of free markets are you for breaking up monopolies and cartels?
Harpomason: I agree with you about ridiculous licenses and fees. But I disagree about religious freedom being on the decline and self-sufficient lifestyles being ‘outlawed’ but I’ve already had that debate on here.
Most monopolies are formed BY governments. If individual companies competed in oil, there wouldn’t be a big cartel. Remember, OPEC stands for Oil and Petroleum Exporting COUNTRIES not COMPANIES.
It would be a lengthy discussion, but I am against the Sherman anti-trust law.
Corporations have resulted in increased production, quality of life, GDP, and economic growth. They’ve also had some negative impacts — a regimented lifestyle, hierarchial organizations, what some might call the ‘soulless corporation’.
As for me, I love it, as long as everyone buys more Beats headphones and iPhones to keep up with the Jones’s and my CrApple stock goes up 🙂
There are not major differences between the public and private sector, except logos.
Well, one difference is I can ‘opt out’ by not purchasing a Toyota, I can’t ‘opt out’ of paying my local property taxes. Sure, I have a vote, but it’s diluted. I cannot ‘opt out’ as an individual.
And companies are ultimately directed by consumer or customer demands and markets. Government is directed by politics. So I guess I just completely disagree with this statement.
Survivor.
Others are not ignoring it..Its to obvious to ignore. They don’t believe or are to scared to speak about it. I don’t say they don’t believe the conspiracy because that is the obvious part. I say they don’t believe it will play out like the bible says..they are not in faith..faithful believers will have knowledge thrust upon them like I did. I find myself doing things that are not normal for me and not in my nature. Marginalized people with questionable intellect should become the modern day prophets as time passes. Like the rush song some homeless outcast of society will write deep intellectual truths on the subway walls. No one would have guessed he was a genius. and it all came from his acts of faith..He refused to ask the government for benefits, privileges or entitlements and put his full faith in the lord to supply all his needs, no matter how hard it made his life and is rewarded for it in the end. Faith is measured in risk. An act of faith is one that could cause you harm. No risk no reward. I love having some lukewarm christian tell me that I should be voting. I tear into them because there is little risk in voting for an earthly leader so there is little rewards. So what if your candidate won. now he will give you the free stuff he promised or he won’t. Either way you have turned from the one who cares about you most.If your earthly leader gives you the free stuff you have used government to do your theft because they have to take it from someone else to give it to you. voting for a heavenly leader and putting full faith is risky, But The retirement package is out of this world. With My faithful belief in MY final rewards I shall walk more fearless and deliberate through my remaining years.I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
FrankOne the Amish have the kind of faith I am talking about and so are rewarded constantly. Hard to take rights that are exercised daily. You on the other hand have a vote as you said. and are electing leaders who are behind those monopolies you speak of. I doubt you are traveling across that hundred miles to buy the Amish goods. So yes you are a bit compelled to use these English supermarkets. Are you not? Are you growing your own like the Amish? My guess is no..I am in Texas oil country with most of my family out of work now because oil prices are so low its not worth drilling.I will not debate as you call it. I can only reveal what is revealed to me. You have no obligations to believe it. Remember I have given myself body mind and spirit to him that guides me now. So know who you are debating if you should insist. He does not deal in fiction only facts and truth..He exposed all my failures when I tried to debate his gospel.. I am not chained to my beliefs and if he exposes new truths I will accept them..
I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
Opting out as an individual is not impossible. But takes a special kind of outlaw spirit that is rare. That site is where one should start to gain that kind of freedom.
they have a path to that kind of total freedom. I would say less than 2% of people are willing to be that independent. You would no longer be a citizen of the US but a foreigner in your own society. I will take that path after my daughter graduates from college. She is close now..I drew some unemployment one time and am not proud of it. Other than that one time, society has done nothing but kick me around financially for 53 years. Most would say its stupid when I have only 12 years until 65 to waive my public retirement, But I am being called out. I see how people on social security live from one month to the next and going broke in between. That is not the life for me. I am watching it first hand taking care of my elderly disabled mother..My sister is also here and disabled with no kidney and goes to dialysis three times a week. I am the only one who is capable of working in the house. After my daughter graduates I will step out of society and put full faith in him that guides me now..I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
The stock market is somewhat like banking. your making money from having money. I won’t condemn it, but nothing of value is created so its just another way to sponge off of society. Someone has to lose for you to win..
I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
The stock market is somewhat like banking. your making money from having money. I won’t condemn it, but nothing of value is created so its just another way to sponge off of society. Someone has to lose for you to win..
Economies are not zero sum games.
First, let us say I am an Evil ‘Bankster’. I loan you money to start a business, an auto repair shop. You need money for tools, rent, staff. The business succeeds. You pay me back with interest. I took a risk on you, and that, is why you paid my bank interest plus principal. That, and because in our fiat currency system, inflation is baked into the system. Was value created? YES, you have multiple employees, and the total GDP of the economy is increased.
Are stocks the same? YES. Capital is invested, companies that produce what people want, and meet demand efficiently, prosper. Is it a zero sum game? NO. When one stock rises, others do not necessarily fall. Indeed, entire new industries are created — there were no COMPACT cell phones even 25 years ago. Now, there are. Large numbers of cell towers had to be constructed. Shops to sell the phones. Factories to manufacture them. People to repair them. There was almost no fracking 20 years ago. Now, it is ubiquitous. Capital market ivestment made this possible.
Markets punish poor investments and reward good ones; this promotes efficiency.
Unfortunately, social security is a government ponzi scheme wherein current workers pay for current benefits; far better to allow employees to save for their own retirement and realize high returns on real investments over decades. I’m not counting on it at all for my retirement (I’m 45), as I suspect benefits will be pared by the time I’m 65, so I’ve planned accordingly. But I would prefer to simply opt out IF I could.
I can sympathize about drilling/exploration jobs; I work in oil & gas and our plant nearly shut down a year ago. Unfortunately, it’s a boom-bust / cyclical industry. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve saved over the years and not been downsized.
As for English supermarkets, I could live in a rural county and drive into my job each day. And grow my own vegetables. Given even a modest rate of hourly pay, and the additional cost of gasoline and the value of my time gardening, I elect not to do this. But no one is COMPELLING me to not grow my own produce. Indeed, I have room in my backyard for a garden. But I have no green thumb, either. It is simply not efficient for most of us because mass production agriculture produces it cheaply. I bought 10 cartons of fresh mushrooms earlier today for $0.69 per carton. Most people don’t even want fresh fruits and vegetables nowadays, they want processed foods.
FrankOne
I came into this world with no money and no debt I will leave the same way..That is as zero sum as it gets. are you not bound by these same godly rules? Lets say you are an Evil banker and you forced your system on me, Oh hypothetically you did.. You would probably think it would be alright legal and proper to hold my children or grandchildren as responsible for my debt after I am gone..I would never take your loan nor consider anything associated with imaginary financial markets to be of real value..The money we exchange was created by mans greed. The value it has is imaginary just like your scenario.
I like creating the banker scenario like you did but only to teach as my father taught me. and to somewhat predict what these jack asses are up to next..I ask myself what would I do If I had control of the money presses to bring about the results I wanted..I don’t create scenarios to defend a system that I know was put in place for an evil purpose..there is no defense or excuse for evil behavior. I love everyone on the planet, but I am allowed to detest and hate evil behavior..When you answer your own questions such as Was value created? YES that is your opinion. Is it not? I say interest is not value because they FAIL to print the interest money into the system and it has to come out of a deficient system..This is the hidden EVIL part that most people choose not to see.. If we had started this system we know that we will have title and deed to the world eventually..An empty claim check on paper and control of the worlds armies to enforce and collect..God owns it all, and I am his steward and paralegal over his blessings to me.I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
FrankOne
If you created the money to loan me what are you risking?
You win no matter if the business is successful or not, because if I pay the loan back you get the money you created from nothing plus the interest that I had to get from someone else. If my business fails you get all the payments I made trying to pay back the loan, plus you take the collateral for the loan, maybe the land and building the company vehicles and bank accounts. Then you can sell it all to someone else. So you may make out better backing risky investments. Bankers take no risk on the loans they make period, because of fractional reserve baloney..
Now if You loaned me your private money your risking the time of life you spent making it. past time of life. I would erase your past accomplishment if I failed to pay you back..I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
Harpomason: If you recall, I wrote earlier in this thread
Get rid of the central bank (Fed), and banks will have to stand on their balance sheets,
First, why would I suggest your offspring be responsible for your debts? That sounds like something that came out of the Bible (punishing to the 10th generation, e.g. Deuteronomy).
If the property has a loan on it, and you inherit the property, rather than reject it, then yes, you should inherit, say, the mortgage on a house.
The de facto value of money is ‘real’, SO LONG as others are willing to exchange it for goods and services. If they lose their trust in it [the current fiat currency], it’s worthless since it has no intrinsic value. So I’m not sure I’d call it ‘imaginary’, as you do.
When you answer your own questions such as Was value created? YES that is your opinion. Is it not? I say interest is not value because they FAIL to print the interest money into the system and it has to come out of a deficient system..
The value created was in the JOBS and income stream the new auto repair shop created. The interest was the COST of assuming the RISK you would default and the repair business fail. IF it fails, the tools, equipment, signage, etc can be sold only for a FRACTION of the value of the loan. So it’s definitely a RISK.
You can certainly disagree that higher GDP and economic prosperity are valuable.
It is a fallacy to say interest can never be paid back, which seems to be implicit in the last line. If the velocity of money is too low, then it can’t be paid back, or if money isn’t circulated. I discussed that in the fiat currency thread.
If you created the money to loan me what are you risking?
Even in a fractional reserve system, there is a reserve ratio; in the US, it’s typically been 10%. So a bank must have some deposits, to ‘borrow’ money which the Fed ‘creates’. Even so, under the current system, the depositor of this ‘seed money’ risks little (small deposits are insured by the Federal government). The bank risks failure from large numbers of defaults, but will act in a reckless fashion compared to a bank which operates in the private sector without Fed money available, and which must pay its OWN insurance premiums to private deposit insurance companies based on the strength or weakness of its balance sheet. So I think we’re in agreement here, the Fed not only creates money; it creates inflation by increasing the money supply, and encourages reckless lending and borrowing. But let us say you borrow $200,000 for a home. My First Bank of Frank must have $20,000 deposits to ‘borrow’ $180,000 from the Fed. The Fed Chairman meets my need and turns on his digital fiat currency Inflation Printing Press and I have an electronic funds transfer for $200,000 of electronic funny fiat money.
A few months later, you stop paying, the house is in Detroit, and now, can’t be sold for even $10,000. First Bank of Frank must still pay interest to the Fed and if this happens too many times, its balance sheet will show it no longer has the 10% reserves and it is a failed bank — until the Government determines it’s Too Big to Fail and bails it out. So, in this case, Frank wins no matter what.
Now, contrast this with First Bank of Frank in a system with NO Fed and NO FSLIC. My depositors won’t deposit unless I insure their deposits. I do so, but had to insure it privately and the insurance company watches me like a hawk and are meanies. They won’t let me lend out 10 times as much money as I have deposits like the friendly money-printing Fed Chairman and the wonderful people from Fannie and Freddie who would insure the subprime mortgages I wanted to issue to unemployed people with no down payment.
So now, I have to be very selective, requiring 25% down payment on home mortgages. The mortgages themselves are no longer insured by the government. This is a VERY different market climate than the first scenario.
Should ‘banking reform’ have been ‘more regulations for Wall Street’ as we had or a transition to the free market approach: eliminating the Fed, fractional reserve banking, government deposit insurance, and Fannie & Freddie? Certainly, an interesting question.
I wish to correct the spelling of beast in the title as it will not let me edit it..
After seeing “Mark of the Beats” I am tempted to do a song, or something, with that title.
Edit: Looks like someone beat me to it…
"I am my own thang. Any questions?" - Davis S Pumpkins.
here is why I suggest it. They are doing it collecting from children the debts of ancestors. Getting desperate aren’t they.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/social-security-continuing-to-pursue-claims-against-family-members-for-old-debts/2014/12/13/4fbdc1f4-7fc7-11e4-81fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.htmlI was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
Jobs are not valuable to me as they consume the most precious thing I have. My time of life. Income is a dirty word in my opinion because it presumes I am making something more than needed to sustain myself which is seldom the case. I like compensation as it presumes an equal trade of my time of life for my sustenance. No income is made in that trade.. The language built into the system is a type of brainwashing that hides the true nature of this theft of human life.
I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
Everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Not maybe or could be used but will be used… This is why a stickler on words and definitions. I detest political discussions but have a good many years studying law. They are hard to separate sometimes..Compensation is all I will ever admit to receiving and even that I traded my time for..That is my right to work definition. I have the right to contract my skills services and time of life for equal compensation period. No adding or redefining allowed.
I have been a stonemason for many years and I do not use contracts unless they insist. When they do insist I let them draw it up and make my EDITS to their language before I sign..It is private sector work and none of the feds concern unless I use the socialist insecurity number.. Then they make their presumptions if I like it or not..or without my consent..At one time men valued their trustworthiness enough to keep their word given as a promise..Those days when honorable men outnumbered those with questionable character are long gone I am sad to say. FrankOne I am up-voting your reply’s as I do enjoy giving my views and opinions about them. No reason we should not be diplomatic about our differences and respect each others time. We are giving it freely to each other..I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
Harpomason: Link you provided was very interesting. I didn’t realize SSA had been collecting money from children for parents’ overpayments. However, the way I see it, the bigger wealth transfer than these few cases, is the generational transfer of wealth from young to old. Part of that is most certainly in social security and other benefits — e.g. MY present taxes paying current beneficiaries — with lower birth rates and decreasing labor participation rates, this ponzi scheme is a time bomb with ever fewer workers paying for a single beneficiary. It is not sustainable. So the current generation will get less than they paid in if such trends continue. Remember, the money paid to SSA today is spent tomorrow, by the government. There is no ‘savings’ account, just a bunch of IOU’s; without tax hikes or retirement age increases, the whole works will be insolvent by the mid 2030’s.
The federal debt run up today, will belong to the children of tomorrow.
You bring up a lot of interesting points. Typically, it is difficult to find part time positions that provide the sustenance you describe, unless you work independently, like you do at the stone masonry. Or work full time for a while, take a break and go back, or work full time for years and retire early. For the most part, we have a ‘one size fits all’ concept that everybody needs to work 40+ hour weeks. And health care, retirement, etc benefits are often pegged to this. And that we must work an 8 hour day starting in the morning. A lot of people don’t like this, so they’ve become consultants or independents, doing odd jobs, fixing up houses, etc. For several years I did consulting because of such employer inflexibility on the 40 hr week. And of course, you have the significant fraction taken out of formal employment ‘paychecks’ for social security and income tax. If you live in a given gang (Government’s) sovereign turf/territory/nation, ya gotta pay their Tribute/taxes/protection racket money.
I would agree, ‘Income’ doesn’t presume an equal trade for labor at all in today’s world, in my opinion; no one will hire me unless I bring in more revenue to them or their company, than I cost — the sum of my wages and benefits. I suppose if the two were equal, the company could exist, but with no cushion for bad times or money to expand or pay interest on debt.
Personally, I still like the thread title as most people have succumbed to consumerism and Brand Envy, paying $100 for Dr. Dre Beats headsets that cost $5 to make. And that is part of the reason so many people are in debt. The mark of the Beats is an apt title.
But the headphones have that nice ‘b’ logo so that the wearer will be deemed ‘k00l’. Maybe because they drank the k00l aid? Haha
I think we should judge social security on its merits. Let’s see. Forced participation. Low rates of ‘return’ because the money isn’t actually invested in property or businesses that grow over time, but instead, is a bunch of IOU’s to the Treasury… If social security was such a good retirement scheme, the public would be clamoring for more of their income to be seized and ‘saved’ for their retirements, rather than allowing the citizenry to (gasp) CHOOSE how they want to invest retirement savings, as one does with a 401K. The Trust Fund bonds pay around 2% APR whereas the DOW has returned around 8% APR in the time I’ve paid into the funds. And of course, even the 2% APR ‘interest’ from the Treasury, must be funded by scalping other taxpayers rather than by growth in the private sector.
So I’m against socialist insecurity not for faith-based reasons but because it’s not a good retirement or savings plan.
FrankOne My paternal grandfather worked until he died at 55. His son my father followed in his footsteps and worked until he died at 56. They only paid into this system and never took anything out. I will be 53 this month and I intend on doing the same but do it knowingly by dropping out and living on to see the fall of this horrid tax payer slave recruitment tool..I make better compensation when working without it and no one is tracking me and electing me to public office without my knowledge or consent so as to withhold compensation for giving gods blessing or (my time of life) I do consider my life a blessing from him and why I cannot allow it to be taken using something simple as a presumption…
I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
FrankOne You may not agree , but I consider all withholding theft of a fraction of my time of life. the government did not work and produce something of value I wanted. They do not make an offer consistent with a legal valid contract. The same as the insurance industry they are selling me something no better than a promise.I do not trust their promises. All or most of their offers come attached to an act or statute that reads YOU MUST..If our government was bringing real value to the table people would be clamoring to participate instead of being forced..Most everyone I know collecting socialist insecurity are squeaking by with hardly enough to make it from one month to the next..
I was bound to be misunderstood, and I laugh at those who misunderstand me. Kind mockery at the well intentioned, but unfettered cruelty towards those would be prison guards of my creative possibilities. This so as to learn as much from misunderstanding as from understanding. Taking pleasure in worthy opponents and making language fluid and flowing like a river yet pointed and precise as a dagger. Contradicts the socialistic purpose of language and makes for a wonderful linguistic dance, A verbal martial art with constant parries that hone the weapon that is the two edged sword of my mouth.
Survivor writes: People have to buy food as much as they have to pay taxes frank. and yes, the government uses force to compel people to pay.
Private corporations benefit from government power too frank, more so than the government itself. Consider large black budget contractors. It’s the essence of our fascist system.
Survivor: People can grow food. Should they choose to buy food at a grocery store, most of it is not taxed, other than soda, alcohol, and food consumed on the premises of a restaurant. Of course, your income used to pay for said groceries, WAS typically taxed.
Of course private companies benefit from government. Large defense contractors, Boeing, Lockhead-Martin, BAE, SAIC, etc. They dwarf any black budget expenses. Indeed, Boeing and Lockhead together, amount to more government contracts than the entire black budget per annum. I like to take total spending and divide it by population. On National ‘Defense’ (i.e. our foreign intervention wars), we spend about $1T. Divide that into the population and it’s about $3,144 per person per year! That’s $8.61 a day, about what I spend to EAT. The Black Budget, at about $50 billion, is about 5% of total defense spending, or $0.50 or enough for me to buy a can of pop. How do we know the details of the black budget? Snowden blew the lid off it. So, the black budget is certainly bad, but it’s actually been REDUCING the number of private contractors it uses in recent years per Snowden; most of that dough goes to ‘intelligence’ agencies like the CIA that spy on people. Even so, the total black budget has ballooned since 2001.
So there’s no need to look to conspiracy theories; 95% of the excessive defense spending is in the open budget.
I don’t see the ‘government’ benefiting from power as you state, but the elected officials, bureaucrats, and government workers certainly do. As do the private companies benefiting from billions of dollars of contracts.
Did the government force bankers to create a new financial product out of known bad loans, sell it to some customers, and then take the other side of the trade with credit default swipes and the like?
Credit default swaps are just insurance against non-payment.
The government ENABLED the crisis by insuring mortgages. Absent that, any credit default swaps, would be prohibitively expensive. So FANNIE and FREDDIE were/are government interventions, that limited risk exposure to financial institutions, and thus, are at the root cause of the crisis.
If I pass a new law, saying anybody who opens up a restaurant that fails, will be reimbursed anything they spent. Lots of people will now open restaurants since it’s risk free. And the failure rate of said restaurants, will be very high.
Harpomason writes: Most everyone I know collecting socialist insecurity are squeaking by with hardly enough to make it from one month to the next..
I agree with almost all of it, but would add the reason it isn’t enough is because the socialist insecurity ‘trust fund’ (haha, I love that ‘trust fund’ term — what does it mean? The empty safe full of IOU’s?) only returns 2% APR vs ~8% from stock investments. So think what you’d have if the ~15% of income taken were invested in the private sector. And yes, it’s inflexible, dieing young and single, is a good example.
I believe I should pay something for government services I use, but not the high taxes we have. I’d just like to be able to opt out for a start, e.g. opt out of social security. But only Amish and a few others are allowed to do that.
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